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Matching Grant 22097 - 1,000 people see again in Kenya

This project was timed to begin a few days before Rotary International 
President Bichai Rattakul's Presidential Conference in Nairobi
 and we were fortunate to have President Bichai and several 
Rotarian guests visit the project sites while they were in Kenya.

PDG Dr. Albert Alley, an ophthalmologist from Pennsylvania and his colleague, Dr. Dennis Pratt, traveled to Kenya and volunteered their services.  The Nairobi Rotarians enlisted the help and used the facilities of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa Hospital's Kikuyu Eye Clinic, Lion's International's SightFirst Hospital  and a surgical camp at Mwala, about 60 miles east of Nairobi.  

     Also, Rotarian Theresa Risley, an optician/ophthalmic technician from Louisiana and friend Carol Wolfram, a freelance reporter and photographer associated with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, traveled to Kenya for this project.

     All photographs are courtesy of Carol Wolfrum.

This project was a large collaborative Matching Grant project with several clubs and several districts taking part in the sponsorship.

Sponsor Districts:
D1440 - Denmark
D6060 - Eastern Missouri, USA
D6840 - Louisiana & Mississippi, USA
D7570 - Tennessee & Virginia, USA

Sponsor Clubs:
Aars, Denmark
Innerleithen, Walkerburn & Traquair, Scotland
Kingsport, Tennessee, USA
Nairobi-Langata, Kenya
Slidell, Louisiana, USA
Slidell Northshore, Louisiana, USA

The Lions Hospital had a phaco-emulsifying machine, but their surgeons had never been trained in its use.  Dr. Alley was able to demonstrate to the local ophthalmologists the use of the phacoemulsification machine and utilizing foldable lenses. This allows much smaller incisions, often no sutures are required, and recovery is much quicker.

Surgeries were performed at the medical camp at Mwala in slightly more rustic settings, but the surgeons were still working with their surgical microscopes, doing top quality work.

Three ophthalmologists were able to perform surgeries at once.  All equipment was brought to the medical camp at Mwala by van with the surgical team.

As the day went on, the post-surgery ward began to fill up. 

Dr. Pratt examines a young patient with an usual variation of strabismus during a consultation with Lion's SightFirst hospital ophthalmologist Dr. Fayaz Kahn.

All surgeries have been completed at both hospitals. The Final Report was submitted on June 30, 2003 and the project was closed by our Rotary Foundation on August 4, 2003.